Brandt: Russell’s cost to Raiders

Andrew Brandt, a former front office executive with the Green Bay Packers, laid out the details of the JaMarcus Russell contract in terms of how much they’ve paid him and how the ramifications of cutting him.

In his column in the National Football Post, Brandt reports the Raiders are in to Russell for at least $3 million next season, bringing the total outlay to $39.4 million if he were to be cut following the season.

The salary cap situation is unknown in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement. Should a CBA be reached, Russell’s hit could be $18 million. Brandt also writes there is talk of “cap-dumping” provisions in the absence of a CBA.

In any event, Brandt concludes, “It’s hard to believe there’s ever been so much paid for so little.”

That was the deal the Raiders haggled over to the point where Russell didn’t arrive until the second week of the season, although they obviously didn’t foresee their top pick falling off the face of the earth in Year 3.

I once believed Al really loved this team, and it was only the team that mattered. My uncle, a long time season ticket holder in Oakland during the sixties and seventies, loved this team. But when Al moved the team to Los Angeles, he never watched them again. He realized after all those years it was not about the team, it was about Al and his ego.

SnB offense defense specialteams

Until Davis steps down…the Raiders should follow this strategy:

1. Hire a coach with NFL head coaching experience – no more guesses of finding the next “Madden”

2. Only draft OL, DL and LBs in the first 2 rounds – Davis cannot spot talent in the skill positions

3. Stay with the vertical passing game…everytime we bring in a WCO coach….Davis gets frustrated

4. Keep the base 4-3 man 2 man but allow the DC to modernize the defense and adjust the gameplan to match the opponent. Also allow for different looks…maybe only run man 2 man 65% of the time instead of 95% of the time

5. Give coaches the leeway to set the starting lineup

THe Raiders will still struggle and will never get to the top because of Davis’ insistence on total control and his stubborness and inability to draft.

But at least by following the above, we won’t have these collasal mistakes!

24

Armstrong: Russell is an afterthought
By Jim Armstrong
The Denver Post

With all of these sports writers saying that Al should cut Russell, you have to believe he will, now. I mean, Al always does what reporters suggest he should do. He checks in with them first.

24

Classic!

Having covered this man’s league for a few decades, I’ve come to know many men who’ve experienced Al in Wonderland, whether it was in Oakland or Los Angeles. Said one ex-Davis minion, when asked to comment on the current state of the Raiduhs: “I’ll pass. I’m viewed as a bitter former employee, along with about 800 others.” . . .

Sure Russell is a collasal bust! But who was the IDIOT that drafted him?

Mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake!

I don’t think this franchise is capable of winning again in its current organizational structure!

Blame Davis1 He has run the team under the ground!

SnB offense defense specialteams

WHERE’S THE COMMISSIONER?

Even he’s given up…perhaps he thinks the lack of revenue sharing will do it

24

The sad part is…Al Davis hired Kiffin for his college and scouting knowledge and his ability to be a play caller based on his success with USC. So…whats the 1st thing Al Davis does? He drafts Jamarcus Russell even though he SPECIFICALLY hired Kiffin for his expertise and young talent, yet went away completely from that and drafted whoever he wanted anyways and tried to force it upon Kiffin. How lame is that? The Kiffin hire was pointless.

CaptainBlack

I wont hold Al’s feet to the fire for drafting JaMarcus. I will hold his feet for sticking to antiquated schemes and players who do not perform. Al, the EGO must go if you want to win!

24

SnB – I guess that has to do with Capitalism right? Does the Commissioner technically have the right to intervene with Al Davis’ business with the free market?

http://none The Real MaddenRaider

SnB offense defense specialteams Says:
December 19th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Any criticism directed at Russell should by times 12 at Davis.

………………………..

That’s not how it works with Raider fans, obviously.

http://none The Real MaddenRaider

24, I think Al hired Kiffin just to appease fans who wanted another Gruden. He had no intention ever of actually letting Kiffin become another Gruden, just hired him to give fans the impression that he’s trying.

Busts happen all the time. Every great GM out there, you can find a year they had a huge flop in the draft. So because there are so many busts every year, both good and bad organizations, I think the actual player deserves the majority of the blame, just about every time.

If Jamarcus just wasn’t that good, you can blame more of it on Al. The fact that Jamarucs might go down as one of the laziest and worst QB ever taken #1, and they might actually change the salary structure in large part because of him, makes the majority of the burden fall on his shoulders. Al deserves plenty of blame, and if Jamarcus does well elsewhere, than by all means pile on Al forever. But Jamarcus may be out of the league in a year or less. That’s Jamarcus Russell’s fault.

CaptainBlack

24, exactly. Al hires head coaches to get his players ready for Sunday. Al does not hire a head coach to select players, scheme defensive, or discipline players. However, if the team fails with Al’s players, he just blames the head coach and fires him. This has worked for several years, but he has been exposed. Everybody knows who selects the players

24

Based on Al Davis’ personality…he either called Lane (Lance) during the the press conference because…

1. He is senile.

or

2. He was trying to prove how inferior Kiffin was to him by purposely not getting his name right in front of millions. As little as that was, it was a silent message that Davis didn’t truly respect him.

24

The fact that Lane Kiffin actually tried to get his father to Oakland was proof that Lane Kiffin was in it for the long haul and it was Al Davis who wasn’t. If Kiffin wanted out so badly, why would he have reached out to Monte Kiffin to join his staff? Because he wanted to continue to better the Raiders and Al Davis was actually holding him back from doing so because it wasn’t in the best interest of Al Davis…meaning…if the team wasn’t winning Al Davis’ way, he’d rather lose.

I fear unless Al relents, the Raiders as an organization, and we the fans are doomed to failure. Nobody should run an organization alone, especially an 80 year-old-man. Cheers to him for doing it for so long, but the times have changed. Al needs to go back and look at why the organization was so successful. The answer was he had excellent personnel men around him. He does not have that now. Al, how many folks have you pushed away?

oldraiders76

I am not so sure that Russell should be chastised to such a degree by some posters here. He is not a consummate professional and there are many of those in any line of work. So we can certainly fault Russell for his lack of professionalism. We cannot fault him for getting the best deal out of Davis. If Davis is stupid enough to bet so big on an unproven product, it is his responsibility and his alone.

Davis’ time has passed. He should have retired and let a younger generation take over. Instead, his ego and pride continues to drive his poor decision-making process.

Kiffin was not an altar boy and he had his faults but on Russell, Kiffin was right. Russell has no incentive to work hard. Why bother when he already has millions to live on through the next three lifetimes?

raiderzmaverick

Russell, McFumble, and Bey will go down in infamy as the 3 worst back to back top 10 draft picks, in history.
———————————————
That’s not hard. I don’t think there are many teams in HISTORY that have had 3 top 10 picks in a row. Detroit whiffed 3 times in a row. We’re in good company.

http://MSN TonyTwizz

Lets not forget EVERYONE agreed that Russell was the consensus #1 pick and pundits thought the RAiders would be fools to pass on him. 3 years later we can see the urgent need for a rookie salary cap. This kind of crap should happen to no team and throwing millions at unproven rookies is going to bankrupt the damn league. AND its disrespectful to perennial pro bowlers and Super Bowl winners who will never make as much money. You on point with that Vegas.

Nnamdi21

Frye will “fry” the Broncos dinged up secondary.

Why? Because there is virtually no film of him and because he’s done his homework.

Also, plugging Langston in at LG will improve the run game making play action more effective and slowing the Denver rush.

If Oakland can go hurry up at all, it will help them immensely against the Denver D. Its been their achilles this year and could be all the more effective with a patch work secondary.

Up to the Raider D to shut down the passing game and get pressure big time.

I think they have an inexperienced RT in too.

Lets hope the D shows up.

Broncos run game SHOULD’NT be on point with injuries to Lamnot Jordan (lol) and rookie Moreno both with gimpy ankles.

Game is tilted toward Raider secondary strength it would seem, but you never know, Peyton Hillis could batter the Raiders suspect run D. Lets hope not and that Chris Johnson can have another huge game against Marshall.
More importantly, lets hope Routt comes to play against Bronco Wr’s.

Nnamdi21

IF the rumors over Russell’s work habits are true, it sucks big time. He needs someone to kick his azz, but lets not forget there are some valid extenuating circumstances.

O line injuries and the failure for the 2nd yr in a row to have a solid blocking FB.

Gallery’s been out. Cornell Green was out a few games.
Satele at center has been a disappointment. Morris isn’t strong enough.

Lorenzo Neil came to Oakland one year too late and didn’t even make the cut.

Oren O’Neal may never recover from a horrific knee injury.

Luke Lawton couldn’t make anyone elses practive squad. Gary Russell had one decent game and fell of the map.

Both factors contributed to the demise of pre season notions of a “3 headed monster”.

Pairing THEM with complete novice SanJay Lal as a WR coach? Another massive under sight.

Russell needs to bust his azz for us next year and turn things around like Vince Young seems to have done. Talk of him getting dumped by Oakland is premature at best.

Switching coaches and sytems on all that Raider youth would be another mistep.

Could happen, but would probably dagger any kind of career for Russell in Oakland.

Raiders757

@ Nnamdi21

None of those excuses for JaTwinkie override his lack of work ethic, lack of off season conditioning, lack of leadership, lack of NFL level smarts, lack of pocket presence, lack of accuracy, lack of passion for the game, and just overall lack of anything else that has to do with the game of football. Add all that with the excuses you make, and you get the biggest draft bust of all time.

Others brought up the terrible 20 year run we’ve been on. It is true. A pathetic six winning seasons. The common theme? Al Davis and inconsistency at the coaching position. The Raiders have become a head coaching turnstyle. Al doesn’t give anyone a long enough chance to turn things around. Only Shell and Gruden were given time to build a winning tradition, and Gruden’s tenure was cut short. Sooner or later Al Davis needs to just stick with the man he hired. Every season with a new coach, is just another set back. If a big name can’t be brought here, there is no reason to fire Cable.

Raiders757

TonyTwizz Says:
December 19th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Lets not forget EVERYONE agreed that Russell was the consensus #1 pick and pundits thought the RAiders would be fools to pass on him.

——————————————————-

Lets not forget that there were also many more who thought he shouldn’t be picked number one overall, and that it would be a bad idea to pick him that high. Not everyone agreed, so it’s not as cut and dry as you make it out to be. There was no “general consensus” that Russell should go #1. It was more of a consensus that with the Raiders owning the spot, and with his big arm, they figured Al wouldn’t pass on him. If the Raiders weren’t in this spot, Russell wouldn’t have been considered by the “general consensus” for the #1 overall pick. Top five, but not #1.

There are many who thought it would be a terrible idea for the Raiders to draft Russell, many pundits and myself included. I was pissed when we drafted him.

Dirty30

I don’t think that you can even have Russell in the lockerroom anymore. His teammates know better than any fan just how badly JaBlingus is dogging it. The team won’t play for him. His OL gave up 6 sacks in 30 minutes last week. ’nuff said. If Ted Tollner can’t get a single ounce of production from this slug, it is unlikely that we will see JBling go somewhere else and thrive. I don’t think anyone would want him as a teammate. His “…they made plays for Gradkowski…” comment made him a “turd” among the NFLPA membership. The guy is fat & lazy, yet he feels that he didn’t succeed because his teammates “didn’t make plays for him…”.